We deserve to have privacy

WikiLeaks has published a “secret” draft of a chapter in the Trans-Pacific Partnership last November and people are in upheaval about how this agreement would impact creative expression and Internet usage. Before this, all we had to go on regarding the TPP was from previously leaked documents from 2011.

What we now know about this agreement and spawned protest from groups and people who use social networks. There have been petitions floating around sites like Tumblr urging users to band together to fight against it.

Because of this treaty, there has been a backlash from people within Canada and the United States because the new laws regarding the internet would censor user’s creative expression, penalize online activities and violate the privacy of the people who use the internet. The plan would even overthrow Canada’s copyright laws and infringe upon

Using the Internet will become far more expensive if the treaty passes. You could get slapped with fines for making fan art or gifs, which would be a major problem for users of sites like Deviantart. There might be an instance where you might be on a shifty site and click the wrong link and get punished.

Another problem is that in order for this aspect of treaty to work, it would have to rely heavily on the government monitoring Internet users. We already were up in arms about the NSA invading our privacy.

Remember SOPA? The act almost implemented to stop Internet piracy and generated protest as well? Feeling a sense of déjà vu? You should. The Obama administration has enlisted former SOPA lobbyist Robert Holleyman as a deputy U.S trade representative to join with other negotiators to push the TPP. SOPA fell through and this seems like they’re taking a crack at it under a different guise.

Most of these restrictions and punishments are unnecessary. Why monitor us more than we already are? The government is infringing upon our privacy and instead of coming off as protective, treaties like the TPP seem like an act of possessiveness and paranoia.

If the government had our best interests in mind, they’d wouldn’trestricting the Internet. It should be mandatory for people to put disclaimers for any gif sets, fan art, or pictures displaying people or characters that don’t belong to the person who created it. Implementing a three-strike rule for file sharing offenses and alleged copyright problems would be a more agreeable route to go.